“It takes extreme effort and many years to reduce one’s time, even by five seconds, when running,” Kipchoge said at the award ceremony, according to a U.N. press release. “Lasting achievements are based on small increments in doing the right thing.”

Kipchoge received the award at a ceremony on Wednesday at the U.N. headquarters in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi. The U.N. cited the 33-year-old’s efforts in spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS, as well as his athletic accomplishments, as reasons for choosing him.

“It is his perseverance and steadfast resolve to put in the hard work needed that moved the U.N. in Kenya to make him the 16th recipient of the award,” read the press release.

Kipchoge may soon add yet another title. On Tuesday, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) listed him among ten nominees for IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year. In addition to his world record-setting Berlin race, Kipchoge will run the London Marathon this spring.

In attendance were several senior U.N. and Kenyan officials, including Kenyan foreign secretary Monica Juma and U.N. Kenya coordinator Siddharth Chatterjee. The award ceremony coincided with United Nations Day, the international holiday that recognizes the U.N.’s founding in 1945.

The U.N. in Kenya has named a Person of the Year since 2002. Past recipients of the award include last year’s winner, pioneering physician Umra Omar, and current Kenyan first lady Margaret Kenyatta for her Beyond Zero campaign to reduce deaths in childbirth.

Jacob MeschkeContributing WriterJacob joined Runner’s World and Bicycling as an editorial fellow after graduating from Northwestern University in 2018, where he studied journalism.

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